Miss D Tjetjoo v Silver Food Ltd: 3202063/2018
JUDGMENT
[1]Upon hearing the evidence of Mr Saad Viqas, on behalf of the Respondent, and upon the Claimant not attending the hearing without good reason, the hearing proceeded in the Claimant’s absence.[2]The Claimant’s claims for the non-payment of her wages are dismissed.REASONS
[1]The case was listed for a one-day hearing. The Claimant did not attend the hearing for the start time. The Tribunal clerk telephoned the Claimant at two mobile telephone numbers given on the Claim Form. After three attempts, the Tribunal clerk spoke to the Claimant who said that she did not know anything about the hearing. The Claimant was asked if she could attend later today (her Claim Form gave a Chelmsford address which is approximately a one-hour commute). The Claimant said it was not convenient to come to the Tribunal hearing for a late start. She asked that the hearing be moved to another date. Adjourn the hearing or proceed in the Claimant’s absence[2]I then commenced the hearing with Mr Saad Vigas in attendance on behalf of the Respondent. I told Mr Vigas about the Claimant’s non-attendance and said I would deal with the Claimant’s application to postpone the hearing. Mr Vigas said that the Claimant knew about this hearing. He said that knew this because:2.1 He received the Notice of Hearing with the Case Management Orders issued by the Employment Tribunal, which were sent to the Claimant at the same address that she gave on her Claim Form.2.2 On behalf of the respondent, he had acted in accordance with the Case Management Orders and sent the Respondent’s List of Documents to the Claimant before 11 December 2018. He said that he did not receive any query or response as to what these documents were, so he said that he took this as an indication that the Claimant had also received the Case Management Orders.2.3 Shortly after 25 December 2018 Mr Vigas said that he sent the Respondent’s documents by email to the Claimant and, again, he said that he did not receive any query or response from the Claimant in respect of this disclosure.2.4 Mr Vigas said that he was contacted by ACAS to mediate in this dispute. I told him not to tell me of substance of any discussions, but Mr Vigas confirmed that various discussions followed through ACAS until quite recently. Mr Vigas said that during this course of these discussions he was “100% sure” that the Claimant was aware of the hearing date because this had been raised on several occasions through ACAS.[3]Mr Vigas then requested that I dismiss the Claimant’s application to postpone the hearing and that the hearing proceed in the Claimant’s absence.[4]I decided to dismiss the Claimant’s application. I note that the Claimant has been corresponded to by both post and email. I also note that she has failed to comply with any of the Case Management Orders. I accept Mr Vigas’s account that she raised no query in respected to case preparation prior to the hearing and that the Claimant was aware of the hearing date, because:(a) I do not accept that she did not receive the notification of this hearing with the Case Management Orders; and(b) that the hearing date was further raised through ACAS. I determined that it was in the interest of justice to proceed with the hearing today as listed. The Claimant’s claim[5]We then went through the Claim Form and the available evidence. I considered the Claimant’s contract of employment and Mr Vigas took me through the appropriate payslips. He said that he disputed that the Claimant attended work in accordance with some dates set out in her Claim Form. He said that this dispute centred on shifts that the Claimant had been due to attend and that she had simply not shown up for work. He said that initially the respondent re-scheduled some shifts but that the claimant then said that she was not interested in working for the respondent any more. He said that the Claimant had been paid for her work in its entirety and took me through the relevant payslips.[6]Under the circumstances, and in the absence of written and/or oral evidence to the contrary from the Claimant, I accept Mr Vigas’ evidence and I dismiss the complaint.